Garbage can holder and cover



Feb. 22, 1966 J. REIL 3,236,405

GARBAGE CAN HOLDER AND COVER Filed May 20, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR JOHN REIL 1424f gf ATTORN EYS Feb. 22, 1966 J. REIL 3,236,405

GARBAGE CAN HOLDER AND COVER Filed May 20, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /G g ,0 [H "72 I. H.. w l6" II. Z7 24 24 I f I J z? 523 (E 17 25 /3 2 I- 5 2s 27 4 w F' I Z 1 9'. 6' 49 as p a? 25 34 I X n I w i 33 n I 53 INVENTOR JOHN REIL ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,236,405 GARBAGE CAN HOLDER AND COVER John Reil, 3101 E. Carpenter, Milwaukee, Wis. Filed May 20, 1963, Ser. No. 281,401 1 Claim. (CI. 2204) This invention appertains to enclosures and housings for receiving and protecting cans usually employed by householders in their yards for garbage, trash and the like.

Difficulties experienced with the usual garbage and like cans are well known, such as loss of, and damage to covers, upsetting of cans by animals etc., and it is one of the primary objects of my invention to eliminate these problems. Another prime object of my invention is to provide a permanent housing for snugly receiving and holding a garbage or like can to protect the same from the elements, and against accidental displacement and to eliminate the necessity of using the cover of the can, the housing itself forming a closure for the open top of the can.

Another salient object of the invention is to provide a housing for detachably receiving and protecting the garbage or like can embodying an open front and a hinged top, whereby access to the can through the medium of the hinged top can be readily had and whereby the can can be quickly and easily removed from the housing and replaced for emptying without any undue lifting.

A further object of the invention is to provide novel means for associating the hinged top with the body portion of the housing, so that the same can be hooked into place with a supporting hinge across the entire top and whereby the use of hinge pins is eliminated.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a housing for protecting garbage and like cans formed from .a plurality of interlocking sections, which can be easily and quickly set up by a lay person, the sections forming a compact bundle when collapsed and in their knockdown condition for shipping or storing.

A still further important object of the invention is to provide means for connecting two or more like housings together as a unit for receiving two or more garbage or like cans.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts, as will be hereinafter more specifically described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which drawings,

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of my garbage can housing showing the same in its set up condition and with a garbage can therein;

FIGURE 2 is an exploded view showing the parts disconnected and in perspective, ready for assembly;

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal sectional view through the set up housing, taken on the line 3--3 of FIGURE 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 5, looking in the direction of the arrows and toward the rear of the housing;

FIGURE 5 is a vertical sectional view taken at right angles to FIGURE 4 and on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary detail sectional view taken on the line 66 of FIGURE 1, the view being taken on a larger scale than FIGURES 4 and 5;

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary detail vertical sectional view taken on the line 77 of FIGURE 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, illustrating the novel means for connecting the hinge cover in place, and

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary detail horizontal sectional view illustrating the use of front and rear tie pieces for connecting a pair of housings together as a unit.

3,236,405 Patented Feb. 22, 1966 Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter H generally indicates the novel housing and protector for a garbage or like can G.

The can G can be considered as of a type now found on the market for garbage, trash or the like, and is usually provided with a removable cover. With the use of my housing H the cover for the can is no longer used, and a part of the housing H functions as a closure for the body of the can.

The housing and protector H includes like, parallel side walls 10 and 11, a rear wall 12 and a bottom wall 13. The enclosure or housing H also includes a pivoted cover or top wall 14, and certain other adjuncts for connecting various parts together.

As heretofore brought out, the housing or enclosure H is adapted to be made in separate pieces and assembled by a householder, whereby the housing in its knock-down condition can be readily shipped in a carton or the like, and will occupy a minimum amount of space for shipping and storing.

Any desired material can be utilized in forming the component parts, but I desire to construct the same from sturdy steel sheets, suitably galvanized or otherwise treated to withstand the elements.

The side walls 10 and 11 have formed on their front forward edges out-turned flanges 15 and 16, and these flanges in turn have formed on their longitudinal edges in-turned guide ribs 17 and 18. The rear edges of the walls 10 and 11 have formed thereon in-turned flanges 19 and 20 and these flanges in turn have formed thereon bent back guide ribs 21 and 22. The lower horizontal edges of the side walls 10 and 11 have formed thereon upturned flanges 23 and these flanges in turn have formed thereon in-turned reinforcing ribs 24.

The rear wall 12 has formed on its side vertical edges 'in-turned locking flanges 25 and the lower edge of this wall also has formed thereon an upwardly extending locking and receiving flange 26.

The bottom wall 13 has formed on all four of its sides, depending locking flanges 27.

With the walls 10, 11, 12 and 13 constructed as described, the same can be readily interconnected to form the box or enclosure and initially the rear wall 12 is connected to the side walls 10 and 11 by sliding the flanges 25 thereof over the guides or flanges 19 or 20. With the walls 10, 11 and 12 connected the bottom wall 13 is placed in position by forcibly moving the rear and side flanges 27 into the locking flanges 23 of the side Walls and the flange 26 of the rear wall.

The cover 14 is associated with the side and rear walls in a novel manner and I prefer to provide means for reinforcing the entire top part of the housing. This reinforcement and carrier for the cover 14 includes a collar 28 of a U-shape in plan, and this collar is detachably associated with the upper edges of the side and rear walls. For ruggedness, I prefer to form this collar from a bottom U-shaped frame piece 29 and a top more or less upright frame piece 30. The top frame piece 30 includes straight side wall sections 31 and a straight rear end wall section 32. These straight sections 31 and 32 have crimped on their lower edges the bottom frame piece 29. The straight wall sections 31 and 32 have formed thereon downturned locking flanges 33 and these flanges 33 are slipped over the top edges of the side walls 10, '11 and 12, and thus, the upper ends of these walls are firmly united.

Particular attention is directed to the manner in which the pivoted lid or cover 14 is associated with the collar 28 and the forward edge of straight wall section 32 of the collar has formed thereon an upstanding guide and locking flange 34 and this locking flange 34 forms a part of a hinge structure, as will be later set forth.

Now referring to the cover or lid 14, it can be seen that the same includes a flat body piece of sheet metal having its sides reinforced by strips 35. The front edge of the cover has formed thereon a depending retaining flange 36 for the garbage can G. The rear end of the lid or cover 14 has formed thereon an in-turned hook 337 which extends the entire width of the cover and this hook forms one leaf of the cover hinge. In conjunction with the leaf 37 I employ a second hinge lea-f 38 and this consists of a strip of metal of a substantially U-shape in cross-section having a depending rear wall 39 which is forcibly slipped between the flange 34 and straight wall section 32 of the collar. The forward end of the hinge leaf 38 has formed thereon a hook 40 and the hook 40 is slipped into the hook 37 of the lid. Thus, the entire rear end of the lid is supported by a'hinge and the hinge merely consists of two interfitting hooks. Thus, no hinge pintles are employed and the cover can be easily associated with the collar and free movement of the cover is insured under all weather conditions. If desired, the cover 14 adjacent to its forward end can have riveted or otherwise fastened thereto spring clasps 41 which are adapted to spring over the upper edges of the side walls and 11 and thus hold the cover or lid 14 against accidental swinging movement.

I also can strike out the spring tongues 42 at appropriate points on the walls 10, 11, 12 and 13 and these tongues are adapted to interlock with adjacent wall portions of the body.

The housings are designed for certain sized cans and with the cover 14 in its lowered position the same is adapted to enclose the top of a garbage can. To place garbage or trash in the can, it is of course merely necessary to raise the cover 14. The can can be easily placed in or removed from the housing by also swinging up the cover and as the front of the housing is open, the cans can be easily placed in or removed from the housing.

The housings or protectors are adapted to be used singly or in multiples, and hence if two or more cans are employed, then two housings can be connected together to form a single unit. In this instance, I provide a front tie piece 43 having inturned lockingtracks 44 formed on its side edges and this tie piece is adapted to he slipped over the tracks 17 and 18 of the side walls 10 and 11. In conjunction With the front tie piece, I also employ a rear tie piece 45 and this piece has formed on its side edges in-turned tracks 46, which are adapted to be slipped over the tracks 25 of the rear wall 12. This is best shown in FIGURE 8 and I have shown two housings H adjacent to one another and with said housings connected by the front and rear tie pieces 43 and 45.

Changes in details may be made without departing from the spirit or the scope of this invention, but what I claim as new is:

A protector and enclosure for garbage and like cans comprising a knock-down structure including a plurality of interfitted sections constituting like side walls, a rear wall and a bottom wall, means connecting said walls together, a substantially U-shaped collar for uniting the upper edges of the side and end walls including bent "back guide flanges interfitted over the upper edges of the side and rear walls, a hinge piece carried by the rear end of said collar and extending the full width thereof and having a hook-shaped hinge leaf, the front edges of said side walls having formed thereon out-turned guide tracks and connecting strips adapted to be associated with the guide tracks and the rear ends of the side walls, whereby two units can be detachably connected together, and a lid for closing the upper end of a garbage can placed in said enclosure and protector having a hook-shaped hinge leaf on its rear edge interfitted with the hook-shaped hinge leaf carried by the collar.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,281,587 10/ 1918 Kovachevich 23243.2 2,521,765 9/1950 White 22023.4 2,579,328 12/ 1951 Lynes.

2,680,534 6/ 1954 Penfold 220-31 2,902,185 9/ 1959 Willwerth 22031 3,001,206 9/1961 Strehlke 220-6 3,101,226 8/1963 Cochran 220-4 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE E. LOWRANCE, Examiner. 

